Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:7897 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:6952 comp.sys.zenith:668 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!njin!njitgw.njit.edu!mars.njit.edu!cd5340 From: cd5340@mars.njit.edu (David Charlap) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.zenith Subject: Re: Strange DOS error messages Message-ID: <1991Mar27.011505.21698@njitgw.njit.edu> Date: 27 Mar 91 01:15:05 GMT References: <1991Mar27.153142.3610@grape.ecs.clarkson.edu> Sender: root@njitgw.njit.edu (System PRIVILEGED Account) Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology Lines: 25 Nntp-Posting-Host: mars.njit.edu In article <1991Mar27.153142.3610@grape.ecs.clarkson.edu> millernw@clutx.clarkson.edu (Neal Miller) writes: > > Here's an unusual situation... About two or three times a week, I'll >be using by Zenith-248 (286-8MHz) for something that requires more hard drive >usage than normal, such as PKzipping/unzipping or (more likely) a Norton >Speeddisk or DiskDoctor checkup, and the system will stop and announce >"Drive not ready: close door" (or something very similar). This makes little >sense as a hard drive, of course, has no door closed or otherwise. Sounds to me like a timing error. My rommate 2 years ago had that problem with a 12MHz 286. The drive would sometimes "freeze" for a minute, and respond with a "not ready" error. It would work fine after aetry. The problem never showed up when the board was slowed down to its 6MHz setting. Apparantly, it was a slow controller card, and had problems when the computer's bus was running as 12MHz. If you have an older computer, then your 8MHz computer is probably driving the bus at 8MHz. While that isn't normally a problem, an old HD controller, that only knows how to work with a 4.77MHz bus may have this problem. Most AT-bus cards are supposed to work at least at 10MHz. Most new computers now have a separate crystal to run the bus at 10MHz, regardless of the processor's speed. (imagine any board working on a 33MHz AT-bus!) -- David Charlap "Invention is the mother of necessity" cd5340@mars.njit.edu "Necessity is a mother" Operators are standing by "mother!" - Daffy Duck